Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of service personnel who leave the armed forces each year who (i) set up their own business and (ii) become self-employed.

The Ministry of Defence publishes regular statistics on employment outcomes, six months after leaving Service, for UK Regular and Gurkha Service personnel who have left the UK Armed Forces and accessed employment support provided by the Career Transition Partnership (CTP). The latest publication can be found at the following address:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/career-transition-partnership-ex-service-personnel-employment-outcomes-financial-year-201617.